A former Special Adviser to former governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, has said elders in the state cannot intervene in the ongoing crisis between Wike and incumbent governor Siminalayi Fubara because they have been compromised.
Speaking in an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday morning, Inko-Tariah blamed the crisis in the state on egocentricity, alleging that Wike, who is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, was distracting the governor from performing his duties.
Asked why elders in the state had yet to openly intervene given the way the crisis was festering, he stated, “Talking about elders, I can tell you most elders in Rivers State are compromised, I’m very sorry to say. I will not want to mention names because it may not be too fair to mention names. Maybe at the appropriate time we are going to do so.
“I’m very close to most of them, but most of them have been compromised, and so they have sold their dignity, age and pride for porridge and money.”
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“A lot of us are really miffed that the former governor is involved in this crisis. He wanted a situation where the Rivers State governor would forever be subservient to him, and that is the reason (for this crisis).”
He said people expected the President to champion the mediation based on “truth, candour, neutrality and pacifying logic and not be seen to be biased or partisan”, because many people had the feeling that Wike had the freedom to do what he was doing simply because he is the FCT Minister and he had the backing of the President.
“If Mr President wants to correct that impression, he has to caution Wike, even if it means dismissing him from office, so that he (Tinubu) can extricate himself from this saga, because what is happening is very embarrassing. The problem has to do with power tussle and ego,” he added.
He described Wike’s eight years as governor as those of horror, claiming that Rivers’ people were scared of talking.
While describing Wike’s tenure as eight years of misrule, he noted, “Most people outside Rivers State would tell you that Wike did so much but I can tell you nothing was done apart from building and construction and why was he so involved in buildings and construction and why was that preferred to other developments, such as human capital development?
“Recently, even in the FCT, he was talking of building the Vice President’s residence when Nigerians were dying of hunger. How important is that to us right now? But that’s his concern.”
Speaking on allegations that some persons were spying on Fubara on the instruction of the former governor, Inko-Tariah said Wike had a say in the appointment of many of those working with the governor and that “he (Wike) doesn’t need to send anybody to the Government House to spy on him if he is surrounded by those nominated by Wike”.
Prior to the statement issued by the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joe Johnson, clarifying that the demolition of the House of Assembly complex was due to the structural integrity of the building after the explosion that rocked the premises, Inko-Tariah said the governor could have thought it’s an opportunity to repair the damage that had been done and give the state a befitting legislative house.
The statement by the commissioner partly read, “After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, the experts warned the government that continuing to use the building in its present state would be disastrous.
“The government had tried all cost-saving measures towards repair of the complex until it bowed to superior view of rebuilding the complex to a more befitting edifice.”
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